


turns within me, turns without me

by antrozous



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: F/M, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-28
Updated: 2019-07-28
Packaged: 2020-07-23 20:47:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20014570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/antrozous/pseuds/antrozous
Summary: Burke and Cristina in moments.





	turns within me, turns without me

**001** . Evidence

Burke comes home to find Cristina’s side of the bed unmade. Her shoes are haphazardly strewn across the bedroom floor, and there’s a stack of clothes where a chair used to be.

He pours himself a glass of wine, and sinks into the couch, contemplates his life before Cristina Yang.

It really should bother him more, he thinks, but when he finds a pair of her socks buried in the crevices of the couch, he just shakes his head and smiles to himself.

**002** . I’m here

“I heard there was a shooting,” he says, like that explains everything.

Three years of radio silence, and she supposes a mass shooting’s about as good a reason as any for him to come back.

Cristina always thought seeing him again would shock her, would turn her world upside down the same way his unexpected departure did. Instead, it feels a lot like things are finally slipping back into place.

“Okay,” she says, nodding, hugging her arms to her chest, because if she doesn’t, she’ll end up reaching for him like she wants to, and as fucked up as she is right now, that’s not something her pride’s ready to let her do.

He seems to know this, though, because the next thing she knows he’s placing a careful hand on her arm, and she’s melting against his chest.

**003** . Funeral

Cristina holds his hand at the funeral.

He hasn’t cried, has been quiet since he got the call from his dad. That was over a week ago.

They’re staying at his childhood home in Alabama, and she orders his favorite from his mama’s restaurant down the street before curling up next to him on the couch. He slings an arm around her shoulder, draws her close and presses his lips to her hair, grateful.

She waits, plays with the hand resting on her shoulder, sees if tonight’s the night he’s ready to talk about it.

“You know, she liked you, my mama,” he starts, a small, rueful smile playing on his lips.

This surprises her. Her interactions with Mama Burke were always civil at best, and only happened whenever  _ Preston _ was around, if she could help it. “Did she say that before or after she took my eyebrows?”

Burke laughs. Cristina never did let him live that particular detail down.

“It was at our second wedding, actually. The one at Shepherd’s house,” he replies, recalling that night.

“Ah, you mean the one where we actually got married,” Cristina quips, squeezing his hand to let him know she doesn’t mean anything by it. Enough time has passed since their first attempt that all’s been forgiven. It didn’t matter anymore.

He winces anyway. “Yes, that one.”

She waits for him to continue, realizes that that’s all she’s getting out of him tonight. The doorbell rings, and she presses a comforting hand to his cheek as she stands to get it.

**004** . Puppy Love

Teddy watches them with rapt fascination. Her favorite zealous little resident and the soon-to-be new Chief of Surgery.

Teddy watches as Burke hands Cristina a cup of coffee, watches as he smiles at her like it’s some kind of inside joke between them. Cristina looks up from the chart she was working on and accepts the cup. Cristina rolls her eyes at him, the way someone does when a joke is a little too obvious, but her smile is fond.

The interaction makes Teddy smile. It’s odd, Teddy thinks. They’re the most intense people she knows, but around each other, they’re just downright  _ cute _ .

**005** . Gloves

Cristina knows his hands more intimately than any other part of his body. They were the first things she ever noticed about him.

First, it was in the O.R. She was an intern, then, and they hadn’t started sleeping with each other yet. She watched from the sidelines, completely enraptured by how his large gloved hands made such precise work on delicate muscle.

Then it was in bed. The gentle press of his hand splayed on the small of her back. The feel of his fingers inside of her.

And then it was in the quiet moments. She’d surprise herself sometimes, finding that her hand’s already in his.


End file.
